“The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries or the way she combs her Hair,” Audrey Hepburn once preached, and we continue to love her today for her beauty philosophies. That brings us to hairstyling, and one of the worst ways to style your hair is to pull it back so hard and hold with a tight elastic.

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Let Your Hair Down

It’s typical of women to grow their hair so long and not really be able to successfully manage their tresses. That’s why when their hair begins to cover up their faces or itch against their skin, the fastest and easiest way to resolve the irritating feel is to tie up their hair.

Now, it may seem harmless at first but, when you do this everyday or most day, it hurts your hair and your scalp. Here are the top 5 reasons why you should refrain from pulling pack your hair and keeping it that way all day:

1. It damages your hair follicles and hair shaft. This can lead to permanent tears in your scalp that makes the hair it grows so unhealthy that it tears when pulled ever so slightly.

2. It can cause hair fall. Since it damages your scalp, you can expect your hair to fall out. The real problem then is that it is not easy to manage falling hair, unlike what most hair shampoo or conditioner ads had most of us thinking.

3. Your hairline is delicate and sensitive. If you pull it back too much and too often, there’s a good chance that your hairline will start to recede. Your forehead will be too broad until it becomes so hard to manage with hair styling, that you will eventually need a wig.

4. Tying up your hair while it’s wet doubles the impact of the damage. That happens to both your hair and your scalp. When your hair is wet, it is slightly longer than when it’s dry. That’s because water droplets enter your hair shaft, causing it to become so moist that it slightly pushes up the hair shaft and your hair becomes longer because of that.

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5. Your elastic is ruining your hair strands. The elastic may be producing static against your hair which causes it to become brittle and then break. Then you get flyaway hair or spongy hair which becomes even more so much harder to manage.

Therefore, next time, rather than taking the easy way out, take the longer route to healthier, shinier hair that you’ll never feel irritated nor ashamed to let down. Refrain from washing your hair everyday, deep moisturize every so often, don’t brush when wet, and do dry your hair in cold setting or using your fan before running out your front door.